Rain, Rain
by spero spiro
Summary: A collection of Kingdom Hearts short stories, centered on the subject of rain. Warning: Some stories include shonen ai, but all stories are specifically marked. Story Eight: LeonCloud: Nonexistent
1. Rainy Day Blues: Sora and Riku

Rain, Rain 

**Note: So, I'm trying my hand at a short story anthology of rain-themed, shonen-ai KH stories. I'm not too sure how it'll work, but I have this one pretty much thought through, and a fuzzy idea for the next one. Aie… Please leave me with your thoughts when you're finished with each little story, as I probably won't put notes at the beginning of each one unless I have something to say about the story itself. This isn't something that will have regular updates, so expect sporadic updates whenever my muses strike me with another idea. Thanks! **

**Universal Disclaimer for all stories to follow: I do not own this fandom! Don't sue me, because I'm saving for my trip to ****London**** and I'd really like to go! **

**Story One: Rainy Day Blues **

_I wish the rain would stop_, Riku thought miserably, listening to the sound of rain pounding onto the roof just over his head. _It's so depressing_.

He swung his legs over the side of his bed, glad to feel the soft comfort of his carpet on his toes. He scrunched them into the softness and peered out the window. The sun wasn't even going to try to break out that day, and this depressed him even more than ever. What was that old children's rhyme? Oh, yes.

_Rain, rain, go away. Please come back another day._

Was there more to it? He didn't remember but padded out of the room and onto the stairs. There was bustling downstairs from his parents, and Riku stopped dead at the top of the stairs. Did he want to face his parents when they so obviously regretted whatever choice had brought him forth?

He dared to take a step down, an iron fist clamping down over his heart with certain uneasiness.

"Have a good day, dear." Those words. Those empty, meaningless words that bored into his head like thumbscrews. Riku hated them with such a passion.

_Rain, rain, go away._

The banging of the door told him that his father was gone into the bleak depths of the pouring rain. He took another careful step, waiting another few moments while his mother bustled around the house. She paused at the bottom of the stairs, peering into her purse.

"Hi, Mom."

She jumped and stared at him with a flash of fury in her eyes for only an instant. Riku wasn't entirely sure that he'd seen it, but…

_And so the mask goes back on,_ He thought bitterly. 

"Riku! What are you doing there?" She cried, placing a pale hand over her heart that he knew was bumping around her ribcage.

He started down the stairs moodily. "I was just going downstairs," He brushed past her. "I was going to…" He trailed off, uncertain as to where he really was going. "Go out," He finished lamely.

His mother stared at him and shook her head. "Then go, Riku." Riku had long accepted that his mother had little love for him.

"Bye," He muttered airily and started out the door, not bothering to grab an umbrella. The glass door clattered closed behind him, and a moment later he heard the heavy thud of the huge, wooden door being shoved shut by his mother.

The moment the torrents of rain dropped onto his head, Riku regretted being too stubborn to take an umbrella into the rain. He tipped his head up to the heavens, daring them to send their worst to him in utter defiance.

_Rain, rain, go away._

Oh, Riku despised the rain, but he shoved his hands into his pockets and started down the street with the rain streaming in rivers down his face. _I hate the rain. I hate it._

The words crashed around in his head and he closed his eyes to keep the water out of them. He brushed a hand over them to brush the water that had already accumulated on his eyelids. It was a painful day, though it had only just begun.

_Please come back another day._

He peered out into the gloom, where he could barely see the crashing waves on the shore. The day was miserable enough with the rain, but to be unable to escape this island to go to the play island? Riku could think of little more to torture him.

He bit his lip, thinking of his parents. His mother was leaving for an extended business trip that morning, and his father would be leaving for a couple days that afternoon. Riku did not mind that he rarely saw his parents.

The rain pounded on his skull, plastering down his silvery locks. The teen wondered what had possessed him to leave the dry safety of his house to go on some unknown excursion over this accursed island. What would he do on such a day? There was no reason to go to the island for all the risks that accompanied the journey. It stung that Riku would not be able to spend a day in the company of his dearest friends.

Even deeper, in the darkest shadows of his heart, there was a dangerous feeling that possessed a tiny, somewhat irrational voice in the back of his mind that too often concerned a certain brunet. Riku usually did not let these thoughts bear any weight, but on such depressing days…

_Rain, rain, go away._

Riku started toward the docks, rain soaking through his clothes all the way to his bones. He shivered in cold, but looked down at the meaningless ground, also soaked in the rain. The whole day was looking gloomier than it had when Riku initially woke to the sound of rain pattering on his window.

_Please come back another day._

In the distance of the murk, a mushroom-shaped shadow moved toward the soaked boy at a slow pace. Riku exhaled slowly, watching the steam from his breath rise into the air around him before dissipating with the falling rain. He felt cold and annoyed, but mostly frustrated with everything about himself. His bull-headedness, cowardice, and all the other unsavory attributes to his personality simply drove him insane.

The dim, gray outline drew closer and closer through the rain, and Riku contemplated simply abandoning his path in order to avoid contact with the rest of the world. Days like these were the ones that made it hard for him to continue with a happy charade.

_Rain, rain, go away._

The gray began to give way to color, which appeared to be bright hues of…

_Red…?_

The top of the mushroom was even more brilliantly colored than the rest of the shadow, and Riku stopped himself from leaving out of sheer curiosity. A familiar feeling engulfed him, and he watched the shadow as it stepped closer to him. Slowly, features on the approaching boy became more defined as he came closer and closer.

Brown spikes were carefully concealed under an oversized, highly _annoyingly_ colored, umbrella that tipped itself farther up so that two eyes, resembling the sky on any other day but rainy days like these, could peer at him with their owner's soul bared fully within them.

"Riku?"

The older boy continued staring at his dear friend and pushed his sopping locks away from his face with a lopsided smile. "Hi, Sora."

Performing a quick once-over, Sora's brow creased together in an adorable pout. "What are you doing out here? Don't you have an umbrella?"

Riku shrugged. "I don't need one," He lied casually.

The line on Sora's forehead deepened and he covered his friend in the umbrella. "That's silly, Riku. You'll get sick if you keep going on this way."

He gave another half-hearted shrug. "No one's gonna really care," He murmured.

Sora nearly dropped his pink-and-orange, polka-dotted umbrella in shock.

"Don't say things like that, Riku!"

A melancholy sigh produced another puff of steam in the air. "Well? I can't very well lie about it."

Sora's eyes were sharp on his. "Well, you are," He asserted. "_I'd_ be worried about you. And _I'd_ be the one who'd have to take care of you, because your parents are gone again, aren't they?"

Riku dropped his head, where sodden hair fell into his face and he brushed it aside impatiently. "Yeah," He mumbled through his curtain of dripping hair. He was still reeling from Sora's outburst and ensuing scolding._ This wouldn't have happened if it weren't raining._

_Rain, rain, go away._

The seriousness in Sora's eyes broke with a brilliant smile that made the whole day that much better. "Why did you come out here?" Sora prodded gently. "I know you don't like the rain."

Riku shrugged, looking up at him through the long tresses that kept falling into his eyes and plastering themselves to his forehead.

"Riku?"

Silence.

"_Riku?_"

The older boy looked away; starting away from the cover of the odd umbrella and back into the cold, awful rain.

_Rain, rain, go away._

He hated to leave his friend there, standing stricken dumb in the cold, pounding, lonely rain, but… he pushed the thought away. Such was not the time for resentment at himself for falling so deeply into those blue eyes and giving in to infatuation.

The rains streamed down his face, dripping onto his already frozen hands. There was a soft clatter from behind him, and he slowly turned around…

And Sora collided with him, the ugly umbrella abandoned on the concrete. The brunet was a yelling mess that appeared to be near tears.

"What's wrong with you, Riku?" He cried; his arms firmly attached around the platinum-haired boy's midsection.

Riku stared—dumbfounded—at the younger boy before tentatively hugging him back. "Sora?" He mumbled, eyes puzzling over the sight of his dear, dear friend growing more and more wet with each passing instant. "Sora, you're going to get soaked, and then you'll get a cold."

"You don't care about that," Sora argued, staring up at him with those emotional eyes. "No one would care about you, right? Why should I care?"

"Sora!" Riku scolded, staring at the forsaken umbrella, gathering small puddles in the folds of its fabric. "Don't talk like that! There are a lot of people who'd get upset if something were to happen to you!"

"I could say the same about you!" He argued, arms now limp at his sides

Riku looked away. "Whatever," He muttered, starting away again.

Sora gave a small growl of frustration and took off after his friend after seizing the umbrella off of the ground. When he caught up to him, he seized the older boy's shoulder with a rare aggression. "Now look, Riku--" He started, but stopped suddenly at the pained look on Riku's face.

"I'm just going to go home, Sora," He started to turn away, but found that Sora's grasp was better than he had thought.

"Riku, I'm not done," Sora's voice was oddly rational, as though concealing something deep within its mystery.

"_I_ am."

Sora smarted from the cold remark, but his grip did not lax. "Riku…"

His silver hair stuck to his neck in a most uncomfortable way as Sora unnerved the older boy by voicing his name. He did not mean to say things to hurt Sora—or anyone, for that matter—but they just seemed to come out on their own.

_Open mouth. Insert foot. Way to go, Riku,_ He thought sardonically.

It was then that Sora's fingers loosened and he seized the taller boy's wrists and yanked him close.

Riku's heart thumped painfully as he felt a warm feeling spread from the pit of his stomach. The odd euphoria swelled with the closeness as he took in the world with a completely new perspective. The cold rain wasn't as bad as it had been, and reminded him of feather-light kisses all over him. The colors of the world were sharper. He didn't feel quite so heavy with the water that streamed off of him.

All because of a single hug.

"Sora?" He breathed slowly. "What are you doing?"

Sora looked up at him for a moment with a small grin. "Riku?"

He blinked, bewildered. "Yeah?"

"Shut the hell up."

Riku stared at him for another moment before pulling the short boy into a tight embrace. "God, I hate the rain," He laughed, laying his head on his shoulder.

_Rain, rain, go away._

Sora laughed with him. "I just…" He laughed and held up a hand over Riku's head. "I make the most of it."

Neither were entirely sure when the line had been crossed where deep friendship morphed into something different, but both were certain it came with the rain. Neither really needed to say the words that echoed through their heads and in the little bubble of a world they'd created, for the gentle conversation and teasing spoke volumes of them.

"It's… not so bad," Sora murmured, leaning over to whisper the words into Riku's ear. The elder shivered.

"You're only making me colder."

Sora leaned over to him, his lips a hairsbreadth from Riku's. "Don't… complain," He whispered, laying a very small kiss on his lips.

Riku stared at him for a moment, a smile ghosting his lips with the rain tumbling between them as an unnoticed barrier, before pulling the littler boy even closer. The tiny boy leaned up on his toes and kissed him.

Neither noticed the stares that the people passing by gave them, utterly lost in a world where shocked adults and cold rain did not exist, and therefore did not affect them in the slightest.

_Rain, rain, you're going away. Won't you come back another day?_

**End**


	2. One Hundred Years: Leon and Cloud

**Rain, Rain **

**Note: Due to the overwhelming (I think all but one review) amount of requests for a LeonXCloud story, and since I was early enough on in this story to change it over from another RikuXSora story into the requested pair, I did. Since I was still early on in the plot, I didn't have to completely rewrite the story to change the character (originally, it was Riku wandering in the desert). I found that this plot works a great deal better for Cloud, since he's more likely to… well, just read and see. The song that Cloud hears in this story is an actual song by Lhasa, titled 'For The End Of The World Or The New Year,' so I'm not claiming rights to it. Thanks. **

**Story Two: One-Hundred Years**

_"Cloud!"_ The voice was oddly familiar; oddly close; oddly…

_A mirage, again,_ Azure eyes swept the area blearily, a thin layer of sweat clinging to his body. _I'm destroying myself with these visions, and then there's just…_ He tapped his canteen with a finger, sighing like the winds of the eternally empty desert. It was true; there was no more water.

_"You oughtn't have come! I told you that your body would be lost in the sands of the deserts, but you wouldn't listen to me! You wouldn't stay with me!"_

The voice of the girl who had given him the directions to the desert echoed through his head with all the reality of all the mirages that had plagued Cloud since he'd realized—simultaneously—the extent of the sun's rays and that he was low on water.

_Very_ low.

He slowly let himself down onto his knees, the winds picking up slightly and wrapping him in a blanket of sand, clogging all of his weakened senses. He found that he didn't mind, as the howling wind and stifling sand closed him out from the rest of the world. The same wind tore at the red bolt of cloth that hung from his shoulder. A calloused hand reached down into the sand, burying itself in the painfully hot grains.

_Don't chocobos bury their heads underground when they don't want to face the world?_ He mused through the haze in his mind. _Or were those moogles?_

It was utter nonsense, and he knew it deep in the back of his mind, but found the logical side to his brain to be remote and inaccessible.

_"Cloud!"_

He turned back up to stare into the distance, the distorted, black shape calling toward him over and over.

"I… don't… know you," He stuttered, bitterly aware of the memories that were dancing just out of his reach. "Who… are you?" He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled toward the shadow again.

_"You son-of-a-" _

_"Cloud… Hey, calm down. Cloud! This isn't funny!" _

_The infuriated blond yanked his huge sword from the ground, where he'd missed when he brought it down toward that annoying kid. "Actually, I find this hilarious." _

_Zell leaped back, holding out his hands as a pathetic barrier. "So, why don't you laugh?" _

_Cloud shrugged once, raising the sword again. _

_"Enough." _

_The blond lowered his arms slowly, turning his head to stare at the dark brunet, who glowered at him, hand set—almost casually—on the hilt of his own blade. _

_Cloud met his glare with one of his own, sharpened with annoyance. "He deserves it this time, Squall." _

_Squall crossed his arms over his chest—defying any sort of defense Cloud could put up—and said nothing. _

_Cloud hissed in indignation at being wordlessly subdued by the SeeD and stalked out of the room, sword carelessly over his shoulder and shooting contemptuous stares over to the other knight. _

_Squall's eyes did not leave him while he left, and Cloud felt uncomfortably conscious about the intense stare. He felt very much like turning his blade on the man, but something suppressed the desire he would have normally given in to. _

Given in for anyone but him,_ He thought furiously. _

"I don't know… who you are," He mumbled again, a hand clutching his head, which was covered in blond, limp locks. He pushed his hair back and stared intensely at the shadow, attempting to determine it to be mirage or reality. Something nagged him, telling him that this shadow was essential to finding those memories that he'd lost.

_"What's taking you so long?"_

"I… can't… help it," He panted, brushing the sweat from his eyes. The fever that possessed him had spread to show in his eyes.

_"Move, you fool!" The surly brunet shoved Cloud out of the path of the shadow sword. Cloud tumbled over the side of the ledge. He threw out an arm and caught himself, hanging on with ever sliding hands. _

_"Squall!" He yelled, staring up at his sword, which was dangerously close to following its wielder over the edge. A shadow swiped at his hand and he bit back a sharp cry. "Squall, help me!" _

_But Cloud knew that the other knight was in no situation to offer any aide. He too was backed against the ledge by the swarms of Heartless, dangerously close to falling beside his companion. _

_"What are you doing?" He hissed, sparing a quick glance. "You need to get out of here! Jump, get back up here… just do something!" _

_Cloud fumbled for his sword, and found that he was useless. "Dammit!" He muttered angrily, watching Squall as several pebbles fell past Cloud's face. "Squall, watch yourself!" He called up as his fingers briefly touched the hilt of his sword, which teetered slightly. _

_Squall gave a sharp cry, one hand clenched to his gunblade, while the other held tight to his face, where blood seeped through his fingers. "Cloud!" He cried, trying to resume a defensive posture. The sword tumbled over the edge, narrowly missing Cloud as it fell to the ground. The sway Cloud made to avoid it was enough to make his grip loosen. _

_"SQUALL!" He screamed as he tumbled down toward the stone below. As he fell, he saw the world ending all around him with Heartless killing his friends, family… _

_His whole bloody life was falling down with him. Down, toward the cracked Buster sword and cold stones. Down, where cold death stood, ready to catch him from this awful fall that wouldn't seem to end. The echoes of his screams bounced back to him, as if they had been unheard, rejected, and returned. _

_It was all Cloud heard before the sickening crack of his bones on the stone and the black that consumed him and his memory._

Cloud stared forward at the mirage, wondering how long it had been since this land had last seen the cool, loving touch of rain.

_"Been at least a 'undred years since these parts've seen rain." The man looked up to the empty sky. "An' it'll be a 'undred more 'fore we get it again."_

Cloud shook his head, stumbling into the eternally empty horizon, over burning sand. "Squall," The word came back to him with a tasting of memories. As if—were he to reach the enigmatic shadow—he would find himself back with his memories.

There was a faint hum of music in the back of his mind, which spread forward in his senses until his body was infused with the music that thrummed around him. _Tomorrow I kill you. Tomorrow I free you. _

"Stop…" He mumbled, staring around the desolate desert.

_And then seven years of exile for having lied to you so much._

"No… No, no…" The song echoed around him with the memories that stumbled back into his head. He stared forward at the shadow, which offered him only a short smile.

He raised himself up to follow the shadow in the distance. How long had he wandered, searching for those lost memories? Following a Keyblade Master who had forced his way into history. He had only come two years after Cloud's memories began again, so…

Cloud closed his eyes. _It's been years. Three more? Four? Five? _

_And then seven years of exile for having lied to you so much._

_"An' it'll be a 'undred more 'fore we get it again." _

Cloud fumbled forward, half terrified of what he would find when he finally caught up to the shadow.

_"Squall, it's not like I chose this."_

_The brunet said nothing, staring at him coolly. _

_"Squall, can't you at least hear me out? I told you what I've got in my head, and I want you to understand that _I did not choose this_." _

_Squall swung his gunblade over his shoulder and started toward a door, still silent._

_"Squall!"_

_Nothing._

_"Goddammit, Squall!" _

The memory struck him with all the blunt force of Squall's gunblade. "Dammit…" He mumbled, wiping a stream of sweat from rolling into his eyes. _What happened after that?_ He thought through his delirium.

_The Heartless came… and then…And then…_

_And then seven years of exile for having lied to you so much._

"Get out of my head!" He screamed into the empty desert, only to find that it echoed back to him, warped slightly.

_"An' it'll be a 'undred more 'fore we get it again." _

He found his situation increasingly hilarious, as he threw back his head and laughed manically. He was terrified of the mania that had overtaken him with a violent fervor.

Cloud knew he would die in the desert.

_Only a hundred years since the rain came here… Only a hundred more… I'll never find my memories this way,_ A rational part of his brain told him soothingly. _Just keep going, Cloud. We can make it. _

He started after the shadow with a renewed determination, barely holding onto himself. _A hundred years… I'll wait that long, if it means finding those memories again…If it means finding you again. _

The sand fell over his boots as he trudged through the terrain, a pair of dazed and maddened sapphires staring forward with each forced step. _A hundred years… A hundred years. _

He finally stopped at the top of a dune, staring forward at the shadow vision, which was no longer fleeing from him, but standing patiently before him.

_"Cloud." _

The blond pushed his hair back, staggering forward and reaching for the shadow, as if trying to confirm its existence…

And fell—face first—into a small pool of water.

_"Cloud, you idiot."_

_The blond clenched his fists furiously. "I'm an idiot? At least I can face my emotions!"_

_The brunet turned a scathing look on him momentarily before seizing his shoulders. "You are a complete fool," He growled, shoving him backwards into the pool at the bottom of the Hall's fountain. _

_Cloud came up like a shot, sputtering water and indignant curses. _

_The brunet only smirked and pressed a tiny kiss to the center of the soaked warrior's forehead, where limp blond hair fell in his eyes. "Just think about that for a little while." _

Cloud's eyes sprung open in the water as he took in a long drink of the water. _An oasis?_ He thought, finding that his thoughts were slowly returning. He crawled out of the water and stared up to the sky, which had quickly darkened with dangerous clouds. There was a silent moment, where a terrifying fork of lightning streaked across the black sky, then the skies opened up over Cloud, who only stared up in the rain.

A small smile spread over his face, and he raised his hands to the rain, which coated him with warmth and cool relaxation.

_My hundred years… have passed… Will you come back now? _

**End**


	3. Over: Riku

**Rain, Rain**

**Note: I've been pretty busy lately, and entirely uninspired to add another story to this series. I have also started a new RuroKen story, _Shades of Gray_, that seems to be doing fairly well right now, and the next chapter is very nearly finished, and will probably be put up either tomorrow or perhaps even on Monday, depending on how I feel tonight while I write another Sociology paper. Thanks for all the reviews, and please leave more! I'd like to expand a bit on the couples, even if this one isn't particularly 'romantic' per say. This one explores the ideal of having your best friend being very close to you, and I hold to that ideal. It may not be totally romantic, but it's what came to me. So, if you would, please drop me a line and leave some couples that you would like to see in future stories. I may be more inspired that way.**

**Story Three: Over**

I've seen darker days than these.

I've seen colder days, when the sun couldn't bear to show his face to the world, and so it would rain. Or snow. Or—worse—send down an unending onslaught of ice and snow and rain, all mixed together to freeze on my skin; hair; anything.

Days when the ground is colder than usual, and the wind is blowing, but not merrily or warmly. It is a fresh wind, straight from the deepest layers of hell, and it does not yet carry any memories to warm itself with. Days when the people of the world turn their backs on you and don't want to talk, or try to get over the nasty, cold, icky stupor that has overtaken them, the world, and the sun. And after those days come nights that can be just as horrible if you let them, but I always just go to sleep.

These days are not so bad.

I could be walking through the rain, when it's cold and the wind is blowing in my face, while I don't have an umbrella, or a coat, or even a shell to hide myself from the rest of the world. I could be lost in the dark of unending night while doing this. I could…

Oh, God, I could be doing so many different things that could make these days so much worse than they really are. They're not so bad. They're not.

I _could_ be dead.

It's not as though I'm not halfway, or even almost all the way, there. It's that I'm _not_ there. I'm not _yet_, and that's the most important thing of all. I could be totally gone, and I would never have a second chance, and I would never get the chance to do all the things I wanted to do most in my life.

I would never have my absolution for my sins. I would never be able to work them away. I would never be able to wash away the stains of all my crimes against those who meant the most to me. The deepest level of hell is reserved for traitors, and I am the worst of them all.

I betrayed my best friend in this whole, wide, terrifying world; in all of the worlds; in the whole universe, and I was the one who turned my back on him and left him for dead… or worse.

I left him to be as bad off as I am now; miserable and near the verge of death, but not yet there, and he would hate that. He does not believe in only doing things halfway. He puts his whole soul into anything and everything he ever does.

I deserve what I get for my transgressions. I have not yet seen the worst that is to come, I know, but these days are not it. These days are not even so bad as the days when I was so sure that the worst had come.

But I am still alive, and that is why these days are not so bad.

At least now the sun is shining, even if I cannot feel its warmth. At least the skies are blue and bright and full of all the things I miss about home, even if I am not there. At least the universe did not fall apart, and I am not dead… But even if I _were_ dead, that would not be the worst to come.

The worst would be if _he_ were dead. If my dearest friend in all the worlds were to be dead, then the worst day would have come. Because the skies would be dreary, and rainy, and cold. Because he would not be there, and there would be no warmth in this entire world. Because…

Because _he_ would not longer be alive.

And then… And then… And then I would die for sure. The days would no longer be worth it to me, and nothing would mean anything any longer, and I would cry. And I would die. And then the worst would have come to me in retribution to my sin.

_It's over…_

I knew that I should simply give up on trying to find him, feeling in my heart of hearts that he would have no interest in keeping the friendship of one who had betrayed him so completely.

And the skies now are darkening just a bit, and the wind is blowing again, but it is not cold. It is a warm, kind breeze like that of home, and—for the first time in a long time—I can feel it. And the rain is falling, and it is not cold, nor driving. It is the refreshing rain of summer that loves me and offers me a new way home because it has restored the strength to my soul.

And I raise my head to the skies and let the warm rain rush over me for the first time in a long time. Through my silver hair and cold, pale skin. Over the scars and the pain, and I am healed again. And I am not afraid again. These days are not so bad…

I've seen darker days than these.

**End**


	4. Foreign Drops: Sora and Riku

**Rain, Rain**

**Note: Knowing that it has been truly AGES since I've updated anything (I wanted to get this out of the way before working on Shades of Gray again), I apologize. This story was meant to be with sporadic updates, but here's the next bit of it. As always, reviews are appreciated.**

**Story Four- Foreign Drops**

"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain... Where the hell is Spain?"

Sora ignored his noisy compartment-mate, who was reading from some strange book and spewing curses. The landscape rushed past, afraid to stop long enough for him to regard it with any semblance of interest.

He closed his eyes instead. Rain made him sleepy. Even now, after spending what felt like ages in other worlds, feeling other rains, he still felt the same, heavy fatigue that clouded his senses and made him heavy and dull.

"You know where Spain is?"

Sora shifted in his seat to offer a shrug, "Dunno. I might've been there before. They all kinda run together after awhile."

A pause. Then, "The worlds, right?"

"Yeah," Sora turned his attention back out the window, despite the fact that he was already close to sleep. The familiar, fuzzy feeling washed over him, and he didn't bother to try and stretch it out of his weighted limbs.

"Sora?"

"Mmm?" Sora mumbled back, turning his eyes to stare at his companion.

"What's it like?" The younger teen asked quietly.

"What's what like?" Sora pulled his head away from the window, sighing wistfully at his lost sleep.

"Going to different worlds," The teen replied quietly. "I've never left this world before."

"Do you plan on going with me?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

There was a long pause.

Sora sighed, "Yes?"

The younger boy nodded quickly. "If I can."

Sora smiled blandly, neither confirming nor condemning the boy's hope. "We'll see," Were the words that came out softly as he turned back out to the falling rain and moving landscape.

A long pause stretched through the compartment.

"Ne, Sora?"

The brunet turned his head and raised his eyebrows. "Aa?"

"What do you miss most about your home?"

A brief flash of betrayal and longing was evident in Sora's sapphire eyes as he forced them down to stare at his dirty fingernails. "What indeed?" He mumbled, thinking of a million different things he missed more than he would his own life. Those things _were_ his life, but which did he miss most?

Sora switched his eyes to stare at the ceiling as Zell chattered endlessly about his world and what he loved most. Slowly, the rain lulled him into an uneasy sleep.

"_Kairi!" A young Sora chased the young girl across the beach. "Kairi, we've gotta go back to the main island! It's gonna rain soon!"_

_The girl looked back at him with a small smile. "Alright! I'll be right there!" _

_Sora smiled and waited for her only for a moment, before realizing that Riku hadn't been seen since earlier that day… _Maybe he's gone home… _ The boy wondered, turning to see that Riku's boat was still tied to the dock. His heart sank. _

"_Kairi! Go on back home! I've got to find Riku!" He cried, running across the sand and stumbling once or twice before falling onto his face. He launched himself back up, spitting out the grains of sand that had gotten caught in his mouth. "Riku!" He cried. "Riku!"_

_There was a soft _thump!_ and the roll of thunder in the distance that simultaneously assaulted Sora's senses. _

"_What are you yelling about, Sora?" Riku's voice carried over the short distance between them. _

"_It's going to storm, Riku!" Sora told him quietly, pointing to the horizon, where lightning flashed ominously against the water. Kairi's boat was already pulling into the docks back on the main island. The brunet gasped. "We can't make it back to the main island!" _

_Riku shrugged and pulled him into a nearby cave. "We'll wait here, then." Sora's lip trembled softly and Riku scoffed. "You're not afraid of storms, are you?"_

_A flash of lightning and clap of thunder made the younger boy jump and whimper quietly. "N-no…" _

_Riku rolled his eyes and hugged his friend closely. "Don't worry. The storms always pass soon, and then it's sunny skies again…"_

Sora stirred in his sleep, rolling over and reaching out for the touch that was no longer with him. He moaned and opened his eyes wearily to stare out at the falling rain. For an instant, Zell stared at him as the brunet started to smile faintly.

Sora had always loved Riku's touch.

"What'd you dream about?"

Sora turned his gaze from the passing landscape to his compartment-mate for a moment without answering. When he looked back out to the rain, he only smiled.

"Just the rain…"

**End Story Four**


	5. Endless: Sora and Riku

**Rain, Rain**

**Note: The bulk of this story has been sitting in my "in-progress" folder for at least six months, waiting for the right kind of inspiration to seize me and get finished. And, wouldn't you know it, the inspiration came from the very thing that got me to begin writing Kingdom Hearts fanfiction in the first place: the games themselves. The theme to KH II, "Sanctuary", proved to be the medicine for writer's block on this story… As for all the new information I've gathered since playing it, I hardly even know where to start with all the possibilities that have, very suddenly, opened up to me. **

"_What's left of me… What's left of me now? ... All I fear means nothing… You show me how to see that nothing is whole and nothing is broken. And you and I… My sanctuary, where fears and lies melt away..." –Utada Hikaru, "Sanctuary"_

**Story Five- Endless**

_The worlds aren't the way they used to be._

I can wake up every morning, look out across the skies and seas, mountains and valleys, moors and plateaus, and wonder if I'm ever going to see the world the way it once was a long time ago.

_When I was in love_.

I close my eyes and remember that you "can't ever step in the same river twice", but I'm crazy enough to try. Even when the worlds are changed and nothing looks the same, I'm stuck in that crazy/optimistic/insane point of view that makes me want to try anything to get back to the way things were.

_Back when I could open my mouth and breath._

I can laugh and dance on the seashores and pretend it's like home… but it's not. I'm still waking up every morning to battle an inner monster I call Memory… and then I step out to destroy the Heartless.

_I'm starting to think I'm Heartless, too._

I was so in love, even though I'd never tell anyone. I hid it behind a pretend rivalry, and hoped that the tiny seed of admiration wouldn't split through like a tree planted in concrete and reveal what was really deep inside my heart. I loved my best friend more than anything. He had been my brother; my companion on this endless journey, and all I can do is bring down my blade and kill another Heartless creature.

_And wonder if their hearts would ever be found… D'you think I could restore them, then?_

Time ticks by me, and I close my eyes for another night, to dream about the time I can step in the old river again; to have my friend—the one I came to really love—back again. I feel so alone… a freak of nature in a place I that doesn't quite seem to fit to me. No matter where I go, I'm just not fulfilled.

_Like sunshine on a rain-soaked street, I'm awkward and confused._

I miss him so much. Like I miss the rain, and the wind, and the sun I grew up under. He always said I only looked the best—the happiest—smiling under the sun. I always told him he looked best standing in the rain, staring up at the sky in bewildered joy. He was a mystery, and I've been changed by trying to solve it.

_I'm different, and you're so far away… Even together it makes no difference. I still love you._

He always seemed so surprised by the touch of the rain on his skin, which glowed in the moonlight and shimmered by the rain. And then his eyes…

_Like the sea being tossed by the storms you loved_.

Riku was insane, but I followed him with no question in my mind.

_Because I admired you._

I wanted him to hear me, but he was always looking for another way out. His eyes followed the storms and the rain, because it didn't fit in with the island's everyday life. He was looking for his way to make it though, and his dreams led him away from home. I was so young, and I hadn't been ready to leave home. I was innocent, pure, untouched by the horrors of life outside of my world.

_Did you ever hear that you can't step in the same river twice?_

But I can't hate him for taking me away from all that. In fact, I don't hate him. I love him even more for dragging me prematurely from everything I'd ever known. But I wanted home again. I wanted my own rain, and I wanted him by my side to stand in the rain of my home. But time has stolen away the rivers and rains of my old life.

_What if I stopped time altogether? Then we could play in the same river for as long as we wanted._

It is impossible for me to return to the way things were, and I know it… However, that does not tarnish my hopes for a future of peace, away from Heartless, Nobodies… endless waves of duty left for me to take upon myself when no one else would. But Riku… What if he were to come help me?

_You and I… There's so much we could do together… Destroy all the Heartless… And… Riku…_

If only I could _find_ Riku, and manage to stick with him and not lose him to the darkness again. If only we weren't always torn apart by darkness, competing sides in some endless war, fate, destiny, two opposite currents in the same river… If _only_, then maybe things would finally settle down and then… Maybe Riku and I would finally go home to the same river… just maybe a different point in that endless river of a destiny that belonged to _us_.

_I'd never let go._

**End**


	6. Storms and Showers: Naminé

**Rain, Rain**

**Note: I'm writing my third story in less than two days… which can only mean that my muses have finally woken up (probably while I was zonked with jet lag) and returned from their endless vacation. I'm really glad that I'm waking up out of this ridiculous stupor and regaining the ability to write (it happens every few years or so… this is the third or fourth recovery since I started writing when I was eleven). But plenty in England has revived me and my writing… Though I won't be able to put a new chapter of either _The Road to Hell (Walk a Path)_ or _Shades of Gray_, because the plot for the former is on my laptop, which is currently on the fritz, and about half of chapter eleven of the latter is on the same, accursed machine. **

**Story Six: Storms and Showers**

Naminé had never had much time to get into the rain after DiZ had taken her to the Old Mansion in Twilight Town. In fact, it rained so rarely in the town that she hardly remembered what it was like from living in Castle Oblivion with Organization XIII, where it seemed to rain constantly with great flashes of lightning and tremendous claps of thunder. The rain of Twilight Town was considerably more subdued and quiet, and never really disturbed anything. In the stark, white room she kept herself to, Naminé drew pictures of things she remembered, things she'd seen within Sora's memories, and things she could only imagine.

Sometimes, Naminé drew her Other, Kairi. Sometimes, she drew herself as she might look, were ever to have a heart of her own. Less sickly… Less stark and white and weak. She was smiling in the sunshine, on the beaches of Sora's memories, and she was _happy_.

Other times, she drew the members of Organization XIII; mostly Axel and Roxas though, because they smiled sometimes and meant it, and because they were the only members that Naminé even liked. Occasionally, she drew DiZ and Riku… whether it was in the form he held then, or what he should really look like, depended on the day. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she snuck down to the Pod Room and would draw Sora and his companions in their pods, sleeping quietly.

But what Naminé really, truly loved to draw was the world beyond the Old Mansion, or Castle Oblivion. The world of life, and completion, where people who were real people with real, not pretend, hearts lived. She loved to draw the real people who had made it into DiZ's simulation of Twilight Town, and draw the trees outside her great window. She loved even more when it rained, however rarely, because she could draw the clouds as they drew close to the town, the rain as it fell and streamed down her window in streaming torrents, the light showers that fell afterward, and the way the rain water dripped off the leaves, while the puddles receded into the ground.

When she finally went back to join with Kairi, she silently watched as Kairi grew more with her friends. She watched the sunshine and the rain showers that seemed to come to the island at least once a day. She watched, and in her own mind, she drew the pictures, wishing she could at least put them to paper. She tried to show them to Kairi once or twice, but the girl brushed them off as strange hallucinations and Naminé was left to dream on her own of all the beautiful drawings she could make of all the rain that fell on the Destiny Islands.

When Kairi first listened to Naminé, that is, acknowledged her through the drawings that Naminé was conjuring and showing her, she was sitting on the end of the pier, with her legs dangling over the edge and looking over at an approaching shower. Naminé sketched the waves and the clouds, and the way the wind picked up and rustled the palm trees and showed it to Kairi, who puzzled over why her mind was so artistic lately.

_I'm Naminé!_ Naminé tried to cry, but there wasn't anything she could do but wait for Kairi to finally (and literally) get the picture. Kairi accepted the pictures, and finally began to seriously ponder their meaning when she had no idea where they were coming from. It would be long months before Kairi connected the illustrations with her Nobody, who was locked in her Heart and silent.

From that time on, Kairi looked all around the Destiny Islands for a place to show Naminé… Somewhere for her to enjoy and draw, and show Kairi when she was done. It took a long time after she realized that Naminé was there, but the day Kairi was caught in the rain on the old Play Island, Naminé found what she'd been looking for.

The rain clung to her skin, and Naminé understood what it was to _feel_ rain, and it felt like the smoothest cloak of silk Nature could have ever conjured.

Kairi lifted back her head to look up at the skies, slicking back her soaked hair, and opened her mouth, and thus Naminé understood what it was to _taste_ rain. Naminé thought it was the sweetest taste she'd ever had, and refreshing like nothing else.

The rain patted against the sand, and splattered against the leaves, and drummed against the rocks, and Naminé understood what it was to _hear_ rain. It was the music she had been thirsting to hear all her existence and she thrilled in it.

The rain fell slowly at first, and then in sheets and torrents, and lightened, and then grew heavier, and lighter, until it was nothing but a sweet, summer shower. The smell of the earth opening up to the rain, and the leaves refreshed by it, and the ocean salt mixing with the smell of the rain water itself was like nothing anyone could ever experience, and Naminé understood what it was to _smell_ rain.

And when the shower stopped, Kairi was overwhelmed by the joy she felt from Naminé, who showed her no picture, but she _knew_ Naminé was finally happy. She smiled up at the lightening sky and waited, letting her Nobody bask in the moment for as long as she could. It was hard not to appreciate what Naminé was feeling, because it was so much better than any drawing she could have ever produced. Naminé had always _seen_ the rain, but she found that it was the greatest art to experience it.

_I'll never be able to draw that._ Naminé whispered in her own mind, but Kairi understood her and together they watched the rest of the world's art.

**End Story Six**


	7. Pools of You: Axel and Roxas

**Rain, Rain**

**Note: So, finally, I'm getting around to putting an Axel/Roxas story in this anthology. As soon as the last one went up, I got a request for one… And I knew that I'd already end up with one in here soon, because of the overload in muse activity (I've put up ten chapters/single-chapter stories in the past week. I think I've broken any record I've ever held for frequent updates). I would, however, like if people would start requesting characters (not necessarily pairings, because I can only write what I'm comfortable with) that I could write stories in this anthology for. So, if you want to see, say, a Demyx-centric story in here, just let me know and I'll do what I can. I'll start composing a list of whoever is mentioned and look to begin writing them. **

**Story Seven: Pools of You**

Roxas well knew that Axel hated the rain. It was in his nature, really, to hate it. After all, rain dampened fires, moods, spirits, and Axel. If the two of them were to be caught in the rain on a mission, or while they were out, Axel would pull up his hood, cross his arms over his chest as he hunched over, and complain all the way until they were out of the rain again.

On the other hand, Roxas would keep his hood down, and didn't care if his hair got wet, because as long as the rain never got into his boots, he was perfectly content. All in all, the standard dress code of Organization XIII was fairly watertight. So, it didn't bother Roxas in the least if his hair was soaked through and hanging further into his eyes. When he turned his head up to the sky and let the rain run over his skin, Axel would make a face and complain and tell him that they really needed to leave whatever world they were on, mission or no, finished or no.

One such occasion, while Axel complained loudly about the nature of the rain, and how it was bothering him, and he hated it, Roxas held up a hand to silence him. They were standing in the middle of a great, green field.

"Enjoy it, won't you?" He told him quietly. "Don't complain so much."

Axel immediately became quiet, staring down at Roxas, then back out over the landscape. "The rain?" He stared at the shorter Nobody incredulously. "You're joking."

But when Roxas turned around and stared at Axel expectantly, Axel was stricken by the color of Roxas's eyes. "Roxas…" He was _staring_ at Roxas's eyes.

An eyebrow shot up. "Yes?"

"Your eyes…" Axel took a step toward Roxas, looked out to the sheets of rain, and then back into his eyes. He cocked his head to the side, staring inquisitively at his eyes.

"What about them?"

From under his hood, Axel realized that he couldn't get quite the view of Roxas's rain-colored eyes that he wanted, and pulled it down without a second thought of rain, or getting wet. He kept staring at his eyes. "They're…" He looked back out to the rain, which was now soaking his red hair and causing it to lose its spikes. "They're like the rain."

Roxas stared at him. "What?"

"The rain. Your eyes look like the rain." Axel moved his hair out of the way and kept staring.

They widened slightly as Roxas raised his other eyebrow. "Axel… You're acting weird."

But Axel wasn't listening to him, only staring ever more intently at Roxas's eyes, and occasionally back out the rainy landscape. The mountains in the distance took on a blue hue like his eyes, but it was only the clear, silvery blue of the rain itself that matched them perfectly.

Roxas wiggled his fingers in front of his face. "Hey, what's wrong in there?"

It was then that Axel gave him a silencing look. "I thought you were trying to get some quiet?" He kept staring and staring, rain streaming from his hair down his face. Roxas just stared silently up at him for a few moments.

"A...Axel…?" He whispered after a few minutes of silent staring went on. The redhead's eyes softened from their intent gaze, and a sincere smile spread over his face. It wasn't more than another instant before he pulled the blond into an embrace and Roxas found himself being kissed.

After a moment, it ended and Roxas stared inquisitively at him. "What was that for?"

Axel shrugged. "Just because I wanted to." He turned and set his hands on the back of his head, looking out at the rain, hair plastered to his head.

Roxas shook his head, but turned and looked out with him.

He also noticed that Axel never complained about the rain again.

**End Story Seven**


	8. Nonexistent: Leon and Cloud

**Rain, Rain**

**Note: I know it's been a long, long time since I wrote anything for this, but in the midst of writing Avatar fanfiction (and, my dears, slowly working on **_**Phantom Touch**_**), I was struck with sudden inspiration from iTunes, to write a companion to the second story from this series. This is from Leon's (Squall's) perspective. **

**Story Eight: ****Nonexistent **

Every day, he reminded himself that _things have changed now_. They were no longer the people they had been, and their world, their home, was no longer what it had once been. Sometimes, it was hard to remember that he couldn't reach out and touch Cloud with reassuring affection that was intended for him, and only him, to see. He understood the state of affairs, but it was hard to remember that he couldn't be himself around Cloud. So he kept his name as Leon, no longer as penance for not saving Radiant Garden, but a shift in his life, away from the past he had had there, when, and his heart, had been whole and beautiful.

Cloud wandered through scattered and shattered memories, the only thing he could really know for sure was what everyone else told him about his life. He trusted them, if only a little, to explain to him what his life had been like before he lost his memory. Leon left out the memories of their unaddressed feelings. Things had changed before he could do anything about them. And now, chances had past.

That didn't mean that, underneath his cool demeanor, he didn't long for those days, and wonder what might have been, had the Heartless never come. But they had, and so had the Nobodies. So had a thousand different things come between them, until Cloud had wandered away in his confusion, lost in his memories and the years of wars against the evils of the universe. He wandered a desert world for weeks, months, until he finally found himself, and the way home. When he came back, he was quieter, more reserved. He wasn't Cloud.

Leon missed the person whom he had loved so dearly, and pretended not to notice the difference. But he had not come to love this reserved, sullen person, and could not forget the Cloud he loved. Still, he hoped that one day, Cloud would wake up and remember who he really was, and how he really felt about Leon. It was foolish, but he still held onto the hope that one day, Cloud might remember.

The rain falling in Radiant Garden wasn't like the dirty, dank rain that had fallen for years. It had slowly faded away into a soft, refreshing rain that rejuvenated the ravaged world. Slowly, the world began to remind the people why it had received its name. Leon leaned over the balcony of his house, looking out at the streets, where the flowers were holding up their bright petals to the rain, drinking in their nourishment. He heard rustling behind him, but knew Cloud's heavy, solemn footsteps better than any others.

"Hi, Leon."

Even Cloud using his assumed name gave him pain. "Hi."

Cloud was quiet for a long time, but then looked at him with that same deadened look he had worn for so long. His life had been hard after he lost his memories, and his personality reflected that.

"I'm glad it's raining here again." Cloud told him. "It's… refreshing."

Leon looked up at the sky, letting the rain wash down his face. This conversation was painful, reminiscent of a time long gone, of people who didn't really exist anymore. "Yeah, it is."

"When I was wandering in the desert, I thought about you. I remembered a lot of things. The rain was a lot like this."

Leon paused, staring at him openly, as he had not done in years. "Remembered?"

Cloud stared at his hands. "Yeah. Things I didn't know. Maybe I imagined them."

"Are you imagining this?"

"I don't think so." Cloud looked surprised, looking at him with clear eyes as he had not had in years.

"Did you imagine the rain there?"

Cloud smiled a little, just a little, at this. "No."

Leon closed his eyes, wondering if this was imagined, a creation of his desperate imagination. "Do you think you imagined those things you remembered?"

Cloud laughed at this. "It's hard to separate the real memories from the mirages I saw there. I had this idea that I had to repent for all these wrongdoings. Like I had to wander until I was free from guilt."

"You never did anything wrong, Cloud." Leon stared at the rain again. It was almost like they were the people they no longer were, in a place that no longer existed. Just for a moment, they looked at one another, and saw eye to eye.

Cloud understood.

**End **


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